Kept for No Use
by DisclaimerItsNotMine
Summary: Just after Merlin arrives in Camelot, he witnesses a young girl almost burnt for sorcery, but at the last minute, King Uthur relents and let's her go back to the dungeons. Merlin seems to be the only one who remembers her until a mystery illness sweeps the city...
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks for reading, Please review. Enjoy it. **

**DISCLAIMER: IT'S NOT MINE!**

Merlin snuck round the back off the crowd surrounding the stake, this was the second burning he'd seen today, the first had very interesting consequences including an old lady appearing in the crowd vowing revenge on the king. He definitely didn't want to be near the front row for this execution.

There was already a crowd surrounding the base of the stake so Merlin was standing farther back than he was at the previous one yet he was still close enough to have a decent view of what was to unfold.

Suddenly a drum beat started playing. Uthur Pendragon walked onto one of the many balconies surrounding the castle. He surveyed the crowd before speaking; " People of Camelot, this is what happens for the use and practise of Magic, let this be a lesson to each and every one of you."

He motioned to the guards standing by a shadowy arch way and they marched forward, dragging a young girl in chains with them. An immediate, stunned reaction swept the crowd - this girl was different in two ways to any of the other burnings the crowd had witnessed- she looked terrified, too scared to move so she was dragged towards the stake and she was also only about fourteen years old.

The Prince Arthur who was standing next to the king, turned to his father saying angrily- forgetting that the whole crowd could hear him - " Father, look at her she's too young please she's still a child. Let her go back to the dungeons, it's hardly a better fate there than being burned at the stake! Please, don't kill her, she hardly looks like a dangerous sorcerer!" Uthur looked at his son, thinking how he might show some mercy on one so young- for now. He turned to the guards holding the girl harshly in their grasp, Merlin looked at her as well the girl looked up for the first time to reveal a pretty and tear streaked yet suddenly hopeful face, as if she might be saved.

She looked so overcome with the whole ordeal that she collapsed, the guards roughly picked her up and looked at Uthur, expectantly. The King glared down at them before yelling: " Clear the square and take her back to the dungeons!" He then turned to Arthur and said "We'll keep her there and we might find a use to her if ever we need to fight magic with magic. Now get out of my sight."

Arthur answered horrified, " Father that's not what I meant! You cannot do that-'

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do! Now get out of my sight!" Uthur yelled before striding of down the corridor. Arthur looked sideways at Morgana before walking off, her following behind.

Merlin looked away from the girl once she had gone out of sight before continuing on the previous route he had been going in order to find Gaius, the court physician. He found him in his quarters on the west of the castle, as soon as he got there he questioned Gaius on the girl, Gaius was as troubled as he was but said that he'd never heard of anything like it in the castle gossip.

"You should ignore it Merlin." Said Gaius before sending him out to get some wolfsbane leaf for a bout of flu going round. But still Merlin lay in bed at night thinking about the girl, who was she? Why was she called a sorceress? Where was she being kept? What was happening to her? Merlin rolled over and fell asleep, ready for his first days work in Camelot.

* * *

_Three months later._

"Merlin!" Arthur shouted stalking down the corridors of Camelot Castle as he looked for his manservant. Merlin was in fact helping Gaius load the cart for their routine check of the city. Arthur strode down the stone steps into the courtyard to find Merlin and Gaius just leaving with their cart fully loaded.

"Merlin I told you to clean my shield last month and it still isn't finished! finish it today or there will be consequences, understand? why isn't it finished anyway?" he said with a frown. Merlin looked sideways at Gaius who was looking sternly back at him, he turned to Arthur and tried to look for an excuse, "Well, um... yes, you see I was just... going to get some Polish? for the sword..." he finished lamely.

"Polish?"

"Um... yeah all the rage at the moment... sword Polish, we're just going to get some, sorry Arthur got to go and get some before it sells out, Bye!" Merlin ran as fast as he could hoping that Arthur wasn't chasing him, he caught up with Gaius who was just approaching the lower town. "Sorry about that," he said. Gaius looked at him and said "Well thank you for that Merlin now we have to go on a detour to the blacksmith which means you will have lunch late today," Merlin shrugged and looked around for a shop were he could by some food, he suddenly spotted a body lying on the ground face down. Gaius strode over to it- "Don't touch it, you might catch whatever he's got!" said Merlin, alarmed.

"And what sort of a physician would I be if I didn't?" answered Gaius, turning the corpse over. Merlin recoiled in horror. The corpse was a very pale blue, almost white, It's veins were blue and bulging and the body didn't have eyes, instead it had white orbs. Gaius quickly threw a sheet over the body, "This is no ordinary sickness," he said. Gaius and Merlin hoisted the corpse onto the cart so that they could examine the body back at Gaius' quarters. On the way there they discovered more and more bodies in the same condition as the first- and many more who looked as if they'd be going the same way...

* * *

_The Next Day._

"Merlin!" shouted Arthur, walking through the castle, Merlin came outside his and Gaius' quarters to find himself face to face with the prince. Arthur said, "Merlin, tell Gaius he is needed in the throne room now," and then he walked off. Merlin went back inside and told Gaius what Arthur said. He and Gaius hurried to the throne room.

"You wished to see me sire?" said Gaius as they walked in.

"Yes," answered the king. Uthur looked behind him and Merlin saw a courtier, dead from the same plague as all the commoners. "Why, Gaius do you think this is happening?" Uthur asked the physician. Gaius looked troubled. "What do you think is the cause of this disease?" he pressed. Gaius looked very worried as he answered the king,

"I believe that this is an ailment made of sorcery."

**Please R&amp;R. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

The king of Camelot blanched and then called for his guards.

He roared at them "Bring me the girl!" and then he slumped down in his chair with his head in his hands. Arthur moved to sit down beside his father and said, "Father, what girl? what do you mean Father," he looked at Morgana and they both remembered the girl Arthur had saved from burning three month earlier and Arthur looked down at his lap, waiting.

Soon, sure enough the guards returned holding the girl, wearing chains around her feet and wrists so she couldn't walk properly. They forced her onto her knees in front of the platform the thrones were on and when she tried to rise again they pushed her roughly to the floor so she was lying there in a crumpled heap.

Uthur rose out of his seat and walked slowly towards the girl. she tried to sit up and get herself out of the degrading position she was in on the floor only to be kicked in the side by one of the guards standing next to her. She cringed in pain as Arthur rushed forward to restrain the guards who had done that to her. Uthur stopped them, "Sorcerers need to be treated roughly, Arthur or else they will not be broken and will perform magic to poison the court." He stepped closer to the girl and motioned for the guards to bring her up onto her knees. He then started to question the girl, "Do you know what is happening here in camelot?" The girl turned her head aside and without looking at Uthur she shook her head, ever so slightly. Uthur became angrier and he slapped the girl with enough force to send her to the ground, "Speak!" he commanded her.

"No," she answered, obviously scared with a voice rough from the musty air of the dungeons and lack of water. "No I don't know."

"People are dying because of a magic plague that is sweeping the city! Do you have any idea how this is happening?" The girl shook her head again still facing aside. Suddenly the king grabbed a fistful of the girl's hair and pulled her face upwards so that she was looking at him. The girl cried out in pain and this time Merlin _and_ Arthur rushed forwards to stop him but were both held back by the guards, Uthur shouted "Look at me when I speak to you! Do you have any idea how this is happening?"

"I don't know sire," The girl said looking up at the king from her kneeling position on the floor. The king started pacing obviously believing that the girl wasn't telling him something. Finally he looked at the girl, "Do you know how to cure it?" He asked quietly, hopefully. She looked sad for him before she said,"No, I'm sorry sire, but I have never had a chance to practice and control my magic so I cannot cast strong spells, only weak ones."

The king was thunderous, "You are lying to me, witnesses saw you burn down a cart, you are more powerful than you tell me. You do know the healing spell don't you, you just don't want to tell us, you'd rather see the people of Camelot die!" He slapped her again and Merlin broke free from the guards holding him and rushed over to the king pushing him away from the girl and turning round to see if she was alright. "Merlin!" shouted Arthur "You idiot! What are you doing?" as Merlin was restrained again by the guards as Uthur faced him, "Take him down to the dungeons for a week," He said before adding; "And take her back too, see if you can loosen her tongue." Arthur grimaced, he knew what that meant, he just didn't think his father would do that to a young girl, even if she was a sorcerer. He watched helplessly as the guards dragged the girl from the hall and escorted Merlin out.

* * *

They took Merlin and the girl back to the underground dungeons, the guards put Merlin in a cell near the back of the dungeons and they put the girl in the opposite one across the corridor. However they didn't leave, one of them chained the girl up so that she was facing the wall and then the other guard pulled out a whip from his belt and he raised it above his head. The first guard turned to her and said maliciously "Now, you can tell us the healing spell that's needed or else we'll extract it from you unwillingly," Merlin looked away as the guard brought the whip down on the girls back. A ripping sound filled the dungeons and the girl cried out. There was a large slash on her back from which a red liquid was blossoming through her tattered dress. The first guard said to her again "Tell us the spell!" They brought the whip down again and the girl yelled and started crying "I don't know the spell, Please stop. Please!" she cried out again as they whipped her once more. The girl started shaking and sobbing in to the wall crying out hysterically "Please stop, Please! I honestly don't know the spell. Please you have to believe me- she was cut off as they brought the whip down on her back a fourth time, the guard then said to her "Fine, have a think about where your loyalties lie and we'll come back later to see if you can 'remember' that healing spell." He then marched out of the cell calling "Carry on," to the guard, who continued flogging the poor girl six more times. He then unchained her and let her fall down to the floor where she lay in a crumpled heap. He marched out, locking the door behind him and leaving the dungeons of Camelot in near darkness.

Merlin scrambled towards the front of his cell, trying to get as close as he could to the girl in the opposite one. He tried to see if she was alright, "Psst. Hey, are you alright?" He got no answer, the girl seemed to have passed out. He tried again, with the same result. He then put his hand out in front of him, looked side to side to see if there was anyone watching and said " Ahlúttre þá séocnes. Þurhhæle bræd*!" A healing spell. The girl stirred and looked at him from where she was lying, she tried to stand but was too weak and she fell back down "Careful," Merlin whispered to her "You're still weak." the girl crawled to the door of her cell and put her arms on the bars so that she could get as close to Merlin as she could, "Thank you," she said "And don't worry, your secrets safe with me," Merlin was relieved, "What's you name?" He asked her.

"Catriona**," she said "Though most people call me Cattie,"

"I'm Merlin," He said,

"It's good to see you Merlin, I am quite glad you're down here. It's not often I've had anyone to talk to." Cattie said

"I've been down here a lot of times in the past few months, how come I've never seen you here before?"

"Because I have never been allowed to see anyone else in the prison, whenever anyone new came in they moved me away because they must have thought that I would enchant them," she sniggered, then whimpered the laugh shook her injured back. "I guess the king didn't care if you were enchanted,"

"Oh, alright," said Merlin, " Here let me help with that," He went to say the healing spell again but Cattie stopped him, "No, don't," she said, "I don't want them thinking that I know a healing spell but I only want to use it on myself,",

"I can teach it to you if you like," offered Merlin. But Cattie shook her head, "No, I'm sorry Merlin and I'll probably get hurt more for this, but I can't ask you to teach me the spell. I'm not powerful enough for it and I'd probably end up doing more bad than good if I try to cast it and I definitley don't want to feel King Uthur's wrath again,"

Suddenly, she looked to the side. The sound of footsteps echoed down the hall, guards were approaching, Cattie turned to face Merlin, eyes wide "Someone's comming, quick face away from me and pretend to cower in the corner like your scared, don't ask questions go now!" Merlin retreated into the corner of his cell and watched as Cattie crawled to the back of her cell and lay down, pretending to still be unconcious. At that moment two guards came round the corner and walked up to Merlin and Cattie's cells. They stopped and one of them looked down at Cattie "She still out of it then?" he asked,

"Yep," answered the other guard, taking out a ring of heavy iron keys and opening the cell door, they both entered and the first guard kicked Cattie in the side she jerked 'awake' and on seeing them she tried to scramble as far away as possible from them as she could however before she could get very far the first guard picked her up as if she weighed nothing and slammed her against the wall. Cattie jerked as her head hit the wall and her vision became out of focus. The other guard reached for his belt and unhooked some handcuffs (Medieval version) and put one ring on each hand, he then clipped the other end of the handcuffs to the wall. so she couldn't move an inch. Then the guards left again muttering about 'king's orders' Merlin grimaced and looked back at Cattie, he could see now what the guards had done. They had positioned Cattie's body so that she couldn't stand up straight or sit down, instead she was half way between both, slouching against the wall held up only by her wrists, she would be in agony soon. Merlin crept forward again to the front of his cell, he knelt down by the bars and looked through them at Cattie, her head was down and she looked slumped, and defeated. Immediatley Merlin pittied her and tried to comfort her as much as he could from his position in the cell, eventually however he fell asleep. Cattie raised her head slightly to reveal a tearful face with gritted teeth as she tried to stifle a cry of pain as her arms strained with the weight of her body as the darkness closed in around them.

* A healing spell from 'The Last Dragonlord'.

** Catriona/Cattie, Irish name meaning pure.

* * *

PLEASE REVIEW/FOLLOW/FAV IT MEANS A LOT, I will also take suggestion as to what could happen in later versions.

Thanks!


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